With one last burst of energy, I shoved myself up and out. I clawed at my throat, my knees and legs burning where they met the sun-heated earth, hacking and coughing, choking in sand-soaked oxygen. The black haze cloaking my vision slowly faded as my lungs filled.
Outside.
I’d made it outside.
My limbs trembled with the shock of nearly dying again as I scanned the horizon. Had Joseph survived? It certainly felt like I was alone out here. Even Kaleal had vanished. I patted my body, wincing at the bruises already forming, realizing half my clothing was gone and the rest was shredded. To my immense relief, I’d retained my knives and my lighter. My necklaces were still intact.
I was shaking sand from my hair when the earth trembled again.
The gear of the lighter caught when I clicked it. It was filled with sand. I shook it, a cry escaping my lips, trying to dislodge the grains when the ground trembled again. The lever wouldn’t depress. I didn’t know how else to spark a fire and my water magic was still out of commission…
My hands tingled.
The earth shuddered one more time and a yawning hole opened in front of me. I scrambled backward before the cascading sand could suck me down with it. Quiet moments passed before hands appeared at the rim of the hole, the nero emerging one by one. I’d grown used to their quiet ways, their easy confidence, their laughter around Joseph, so to see their eyes as flat and blank as they were now was more than a little horrifying.
Behind them, on a wave of sand, rose the darkened figure of Phenex wrapped in his dark blue cloak. He floated over the small army, nimbly landing before them, his aura dark in my Iridescence. Though he still appeared relatively human, the creature I’d always sensed lurking beneath his skin had finally emerged: his teeth were sharper, the bones of his face longer, and his eyes glowed with the white heat of the sun.
“You just don’t die, do you?” he spat, the sandpaper quality of his voice was grating.
“I am a bit averse to the idea. Though you’re certainly welcome to keep trying.” My throat ached from taking in sand and I spat. I dropped the useless lighter and drew my dagger. I hoped my friends were alright, though part of me worried that Ryder’s distraction hadn’t been enough and Phenex had finished them off. Or buried them alive as he had me.
I bit my tongue so hard it bled. No. I couldn’t think like that. They had to be in there somewhere. I refused to believe that Phenex had taken them out that easily.
“I intend to do more than try,” Phenex said and his cloak billowed in the wind. “I’ll even do you the courtesy of killing you myself.”
“How thoughtful of you.” My palms tingled again, as they did when…
Water.
I could sense water.
No, more than sense it. I latched on to the reservoir with all I had, ripping the water up through the ground as fast as it would go, but it wasn’t fast enough. I didn’t know how I could reach it this time, maybe this particular reservoir was closer to the surface, maybe Phenex had dislodged something with his blast of magic, but I wasn’t about to complain. Behind Phenex, I spotted Maat. Worry twisted his lips before he firmed them and jerked his eyes from mine, his face set and still as his comrades.
“Tell me, did you lock away the nero’s magic before or after the last round of Gods died?” I called, wishing the water would move faster, wishing I had anything that would end this right here and now.
Phenex pulled the emerald from his pocket and held it high. The power radiating from it nearly blinded me, so I fixated on Maat’s face instead.
“They placed their trust in me several thousand years ago,” Phenex said. “They asked me for help out of a tricky spot and in exchange, I… took the key to which they bound their magic. Can’t blame fools for being fools now, can I?”
He crooked a finger and my friend moved forward, his steps stilted. My stomach bottomed out.
“If they ever want to get their magic back, all they have to do is serve me until I’m through with them—indentured in both body and mind. Simple enough, right?”
“That’s slavery,” I yelled. “You were a slave once, too, Phenex. How can you live with yourself forcing that on someone else?”
His face flickered and he shrugged. “You mistake me for someone with a conscience. I spent an eternity enslaved after my father tricked me. My sympathy died when he locked me away. When I got out, I wasted no time making sure no one could best me ever again—including my siblings. And in my rise to the top, I picked up a few odds and ends, including a few followers. These ones are a bit more devoted to the cause, I suppose you could say.”
“You’re not a deity,” I snarled, a cry nearly ripping from my chest when Phenex hauled Maat up and pressed a knife, startlingly similar to the one he’d given me, to the nero’s throat. “A God may have created you, but that hardly makes you equal, no matter how much power you take by force.”
He wasn’t listening to me though, the djinn had lost interest in this conversation. He grabbed the top of Maat’s fiery hair, jerking his head back. I willed the nero to move, to escape, to do something other than allow this to happen. Why wasn’t he fighting back? His magic was gone but his control wasn’t.
“Sometimes followers must be taught a lesson. And this one broke the cardinal rule, spilling secrets he wasn’t meant to.” Phenex knew what Maat had told me, he’d heard through Ryder’s barrier. Impossible. “Too bad.”
His knife moved and I screamed, surging forward as the tingles in my palm seared painfully. A horn blasted. Once, twice, followed by a third longer tone.
Phenex froze, his eyes moving over my shoulder. His lips twisted, exposing sharp teeth.
“Then again, I’d rather watch this play out first,” he said.
Chapter 24
“What did you do?” I screamed. My arms jerked as the full weight of my magic slammed into me. About damn time. “What did you do?”
He pointed with the knife. “Take a look for yourself.”
Zipping toward us was the bulging body of some strange cross between a plane and a helicopter. The desert sun winked off its gunmetal gray hide as it made its swift approach. My mouth went dry when it drew close enough to make out the O with a forward slash through its center embossed on the side of the aircraft.
The Order.
And on board… my magic recoiled.
“You called Geoffrey?” I snapped back to the djinn, hating the wild desperation of my question. I redirected the magic skyward, needing to feel my element all around me—especially while caught between two fronts. And where the stars were Finn and Ryder? “You told him where we were? I thought we had a deal!”
“A deal you broke when you deviated from our plan.” His smirk ate up his whole face. He’d released Maat who remained on his knees, blood dripping from his wound, his arms hanging limp from their sockets. His glazed eyes were unfocused. “You’ll also do well to remember I made a deal with The Order first. It’s called playing the field.”
The aircraft touched down, appearing more like a bloated ship than a plane. Its wide belly scraped the sand as lights flashed along the hull. A door opened in the side and shouted commands drifted down. From the opening shot a long ramp. Everything in me went cold when a figure appeared at the top of the ramp. The golden cane Geoffrey clutched tapped the thin, red carpet as he stepped forward.
My Hand appeared as he had in our shared dream. Thick, blotchy burns roped around his neck, along his jaw, and up one side of his face, where they vanished in his shortly-shorn hair. The slashes of scars marring his cheeks were twisted on one side, the other side a smooth and painful contrast of normalcy. Across his forehead blazed the signatures of the Gods marking him as theirs.
At the base of the ramp, he paused, drinking in the sight of me in this torn and broken state. Behind him filed twin rows of soldiers, their helmets and black uniforms as familiar to me as my own magic. Speaking of magic… the sky overhead roiled with dark clouds, thunderheads billowing, ready for release
.
“Zara.” Geoffrey tasted my name, savoring it. I wrinkled my nose. “It’s good to see you again.”
“I’d say the feeling is mutual,” I said, “but then I’d be lying, wouldn’t I?”
“Good to know your spirit isn’t as battered as the rest of you appears to be.” He stepped onto the sand as purple lightning forked across the sky. “I would hate to beat you at anything but at your best.”
“What makes you think you’re going to beat me?” I had him right where I needed him. If only my friends would find their way to me. Only then would I feel more certain about the outcome of what was about to hit.
“Do you remember what I told you the last time we met?” The soldiers fanned out behind him, guns raised and aimed at me. “I meant every word. Knowing you’re powerless, drained of water, and apparently incapable of drawing fire…” He motioned at the lighter at my feet. “It’s too perfect an opportunity to carry through. This is where it ends for you, Zara. Phenex, thank you for this… unexpected gift.”
I dropped my head submissively while calling my magic to me, wild and fast and free. The torrent flooded me, gushing and churning and clamoring for my attention, wanting me to use it. Demanding I use it. My arms and legs shook with the force of it.
“Of course,” Phenex’s drawl was low and smooth. I knew that tone, the deception lurking beneath the surface. “It was too prime an opportunity to pass up.”
Geoffrey raised his arm and the soldiers clutched their triggers. “Any last words, Zara? There’s no coming back from the dead this time.”
“How about five?” I whipped back to Phenex, allowing the blaze of my magic to light my eyes. “Maat, now!”
The nero at this feet sprang to life, ripping the emerald from Phenex’s loose grasp, his body blazing with white light before I flung a wall of water around me, a swirling tornado that launched me into the sky and away from the gunfire that erupted from the soldiers. At the top of the waterspout, I nimbly spun, head tipped toward the heavens, arms flung wide, glorying in the sensation of my element flooding me, filling me like it was meant to be…
Then released it in a violent surge, a physical ripple racing the length of the storm clouds.
They burst, releasing their showers as I toppled from the top of the tower, grinning crazily as the rain splattered against my face, remembering another similar fall. I flipped as the ground surged closer, hair streaming behind me. At the last moment, I wrapped myself in a cocoon of water that cushioned my fall and I tumbled to my feet, twin swords of ice sprouting from my palms.
Phenex was back-peddling as the nero charged as a unit, rushing him with all the fury of their unleashed sand magic, uncaring of the storm sweeping over them. Leading the way was Maat, who spun one of those steely spears with vicious intent. Geoffrey only had eyes for me, but before I could engage, a hole opened in the ground and Joseph burst from it, yellow eyes blazing as the rest of my friends followed.
“He’s mine,” he snarled, skating on the air, rushing for Geoffrey with a pair of spinning balls swirling in his hands. The pixies roared up from the opening, black magic blazing as they darted for the dozens of Order soldiers, hacking and clawing at limbs without care. The kelpie thundered past, hooves churning in the muddy sand, rushing for another cluster of soldiers.
Ryder stopped beside me, muscles flexing in his glossy, black second skin. The horns sprouting from his head curled around his temples and beneath his eyes in a twisted mask of bone. Behind the mask, his eyes swirled red and gold and black. “Sorry for taking so long, glowstick. Phenex apparently knew where to find more of those snakes and they slowed us down.” His lips pressed hard against mine in a burning kiss, then he released me. “Glad you found your magic again. Let’s crush these hellions.”
Then he was gone, sweeping for Geoffrey who flung bolts of fire at Joseph. The God of Air easily blocked them and countered with wide panes of cutting air. With rain streaming from my face, dripping down my chin, I clutched the vial hanging from my neck. It had swung out from beneath my clothing when I fell.
I left my friends to rain retribution down on the Order and turned to the djinn whose crimes were too numerous to count. Phenex had unleashed an army of sand soldiers who the nero were cutting down as quickly as they rose, wielding blades of their own magic. Maat himself squared off against the djinn, his spear a blur of brown and silver as he sparred against the demigod.
I cut down a wave of Phenex’s soldiers who rushed at me with swords, relishing in the familiar movement of muscles as I blocked their thrusts and split them up the middle. When they bogged me down, I froze the sand, carving a path in front of me. A path right for Maat and Phenex who clashed in a wild swirl of spinning sand. How they could see let along attack was beyond me, but despite his lack of practice, Maat wielded his magic with an intensity that reminded me of myself.
“You think you can beat me?” Phenex roared, delivering one particularly brutal assault that knocked the nero back a few steps. “You’ll never beat me. You’re nothing.”
He dropped his sand magic and black smoke spilled from his palms. Maat snarled then went still as he inhaled, the smoke seeping in his mouth and nose, soaking into his skin. He twitched, falling forward, still fighting the effects of whatever it was. His copper eyes went wild with fury and panic. The djinn raised his sword, stalking forward.
“You’ve always been a troublesome brat,” he crooned. “But now that you’ve got your magic back, it will be my true honor to strip it from you again—along with your soul.”
“Hey, Phenex.” I flung a bolt of water, drilling him in the side, knocking him off-balance. “Forget about me?”
The djinn brushed sand off his shirt and spat. “Ready for me to finish you off?” He threw up a wall of sand that blocked a dozen spears of ice. “So eager for death?”
The ground yawned open under my feet, but this time I was prepared. I ripped a wave of water beneath me, allowing it to push me forward as I crafted arrows, launching them in flashing volleys. Once back on flat ground, I threw a wave at the djinn as his sand creatures attacked. I dodged the first one that looked a little like a bulldog, but the second knocked me flat. I froze the obstacle solid, then shattered it with a thought. I rose, muscles humming, braced for Phenex’s next attack.
“Afraid to fight me like a man? Or do you only have fancy tricks up your sleeve?”
He bared his sharpened teeth and swiped rain-slickened hair from his forehead, his chest heaving with exertion. He bent and picked up his sword.
“I’d rather wipe you from this earth from my own hand anyway,” he said.
I flattened my palm against the pendant, remembering Maat’s vague instructions.
I had the container. I had his name. I now needed his blood.
My arms jarred when our blades connected. My sword buckled, cracking down the center, but miraculously held. The driving rain lashed at my face when I withdrew, then I struck again, aiming for his side. He blocked it and thrust for my chest, forcing me to dance to the side. Again and again, we came together, swords clanging, limbs brushing, equally matched in this war of physical strength.
Until I found my opening.
His sword came down, but rather than block it, I allowed the blow to land. The blade bit deep into my arm, bruising the bone. I dropped my weapon and grabbed his arm, using it to curl into his body, while reaching for the small knife he’d given me. I slashed it across his chest, right above his sternum, and slammed my hand to the blood that welled there. He knocked me away, but I had what I needed. My eyes blazed triumphantly.
My own blood slicked down my arm, mingling with his, as I yanked the chain out of my shirt and ripped the cap off the pendant in one move. His eyes went wide as he stumbled, mouth opening in horror.
“You’re the one who told me the simplest attack is the most effective.” I swiped my hand down the length of the vial. The silver encasing the vial shone bright as starlight, burning so hot I felt the imprint melting into my skin
, but still I held on. “I don’t know any fancy words, but consider your freedom revoked, Xenith.”
The djinn shrieked, his body turning to smoke that was sucked into the opening of the vial with a roaring howl that nearly punctured my eardrums. Then it was gone. My muscles felt weak, my arm burned, as I capped the vial and dropped it against my chest with a thump.
Around me, the rain pounded, clearing away the evidence of the fight.
Chapter 25
Geoffrey escaped.
That information tumbled around my head as I rolled Phenex’s cage between my fingers.
“I almost had him trapped in a box, but he did this peculiar thing with the sand,” Joseph demonstrated dramatically with his hands, “and he slipped away. I swear I blinked, then the plane jetted off. It was crazy. Bodies everywhere and he turned coward.”
Rose tied off a bandage stained black with blood around Briar’s forearm. “He’s slippery as soap, that one, but we’ll get him one of these days when he can’t run. Right, Zara?”
I’d sunk into some weird murky part of my mind and couldn’t quite claw my away out. I’d only grudgingly responded to my name when Ryder had come for me after the battle and led me back to the group. While Finn filled our canteens in the rapidly shrinking puddles, Rose had talked me into healing my arm. Though it was fixed, the limb still didn’t feel connected.
“I think we learned Geoffrey is a problem that will need to be solved sooner rather than later.” The words moved like sludge from my mouth. Physically, I was the best I’d felt in weeks, but emotionally… everything felt dark. “He’s not going to stop getting in our way. I’m tired of it. I don’t see how any of us can focus on figuring out how to stop a nuclear apocalypse with him constantly snapping at our heels. I can barely think about how to solve that problem already without him launching these attacks.”
I pushed some frizzy hair behind my ear and clenched the vial hard. The sun had dried us quickly once I’d banished the storm clouds. The silver warmed beneath the pads of my fingers. I lifted it, watching the smoky substance that was Phenex swirl angrily. He must be furious with me. Gods, I was faintly furious with me.
Fan the Flame Page 15
